Identity
by Cloaked Protagonist
Summary: At a young age, Harry is discovered to be a metamorphmagus. Unpredictable circumstances force Dumbledore to turn him over to the ministry and be placed in an unexpected magical environment. How will Harry fair in the magical world, armed with one of the greatest weapons of all. Experience.
1. Chapter 1

**Ch. 1**

**I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other stuff except some plot. AN at the end.**

Albus Dumbledore was a very irritated man, to say the least. His original plan to put Harry with the Dursley's having fallen through when he discovered the boy is a metamorphmagus. There is simply no way he could ever predict the boy would have inherited the trait from his grandmother's side of the family, and even less of a chance that the boy could be hidden in muggle society with such a noticeable talent.

After days of careful consideration, he was going to take Harry to live with the Weasley's or another family that was devoted to the light, when he received an owl from the ministry stating that they knew he had the boy and there would be an emergency Wizengamot meeting tomorrow to declare who would get official legal and magical guardianship of the boy his godfather was placed in Azkaban. With his peculiar involvement concerning Harry and his suggestion of a fidelius to protect the family, he was not allowed to sit in as Chief Warlock for the trial. This effectively crippled him from any decision in the boy's guardianship since he was only part of a magical family, not an ancient one, and had no other seat in the council. All his plans were falling apart before he could even invoke them. Hopefully, none of the more sinister families got their hands on him, but it was out of his hands now.

**Line break**

"I call this meeting to order as standing Chief Warlock for the trial concerning the guardianship of proclaimed national hero, Harry Potter," said Amelia Bones. As the new head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at Senor Moody's recommendation, she had to step in at times whenever the elected official had a conflict of interest. "How we will do this is take up anonymous nominations from those seated and tally the top three nominations for a vote. Please write your nominations now and we will begin the tally." After about 15 minutes of contemplation and gathering, the results were in. "Okay so the three choices will be the Most Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom, the Ancient and Noble House of Avery, and the Most Ancient and Noble House of Greengrass," she said hiding her own surprise at the choices. She was sure that some of the darker families in the room would have made a grab for the child.

Over in his own corner of the courtroom, Malfoy had drawn up his own plan to leave the boy in the care of a dark family that had largely unknown allegiances during the last war to the public. He would have much rather preferred it to be his own, or possibly the Lestranges if they were not incarcerated, but the it would be much too expected to try for the boy himself. That and he had barely managed to escape his own hearing with no charges and he would have to tread carefully for some time. No, he would sit in the background and pull the strings to make sure Avery got his guardianship and keep his own hands clean while being able to take credit for when the dark lord returns. Cunning like a true Slytherin.

"Each family shall make their statement now as to why they should get custody of the child. Lady Longbottom, you shall begin," Miss Bones stated.

"Well my argument is the obvious one, my daughter-in-bond was supposed to be named his godmother before his parents passing. That leaves the responsibility to our house to support and care for them when they couldn't."

"Objection," Lord Greengrass started, "There was no legal documentation of anyone other than Mr. Black to be given guardianship in case of this situation. Therefore, Mrs. Longbottom's plea cannot be taken into consideration when making the decision."

Amelia sighed, "Sustained Lord Greengrass. Mr. Avery, make your case at this time please."

William Avery was not a dumb man. He was aware of the subtle shifting Malfoy had done throughout the entire case and wouldn't be surprised if he was calling in favors or blackmailing the other members to sway the vote in his favor. Despite this, he had one major trump card to play that the Longbottom family couldn't.

"As you know, the Avery family is anything but humble and weak-willed. Just like the Potter family we forged our empire not through business, but through war. In the Goblin wars we were the ones who stood against the first wave of goblins, losing many members of this family in the process. Despite our personal sacrifice, we covered the escape of many noncombatants and even continued to pursue the war despite our losses. We also are credited in the most dueling conference championships of any other Ancient and Noble Families. Not to mention we also invented the bone breaking curse that our own aurors use to protect us. If the boy comes with us we will not only give him the knowledge he will get at Hogwarts, but the knowledge he will need to face any and all threats against Magical Britain and most importantly, his self," as he finished his speech all the dark families, a good amount of the neutral faction, and even some of the lighter families were giving him a quite applause.

"Order in the court," Bones began banging her gavel. The room quickly calmed down. "We shall now hear your plea, Lord Greengrass," Madam Bones beckoned the man to speak.

"With all due respect, I would like to withdraw my claim for custody," Lord Greengrass said, nodding slightly in Lord Avery's direction.

"We will now conduct the vote then. Everyone who votes Harry goes to the Longbottom's, raise your wand now," around a fourth of the room raised their wands. "Alright, now raise your wand if you vote he goes to Mr. Avery," a bit below half raised their wands. "Those that sustain?" With this the last of the room lit their wand. "It is decided, Mr. Potter will go with my Avery, effective immediately," she then banged her gavel signaling the end of the trial.

**I'm baaccckkk. But seriously tho, I've got plenty of time and ideas to finish this thing out now. As a reminder this is an AU, so if something is strange or seems off to you, feel free to review and ask about it. I'll choose a few and respond every chapter. Chapters will most likely be put out weekly. Now on to the legal stuff:**

**I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. If I did I wouldn't struggle so much with finishing a fanfic.**

**This is Cloaked Protagonist,**

**Signing Off**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Ch. 2_**

Avery collected Harry from the ministry officials and began his trek to the flooing area. Unsurprisingly, he ran into Malfoy on the way out. "Where are you playing at, Lucius?" Avery questioned. "Fighting for the custody of the child who defeated the dark lord. Is this some sort of way to get revenge and harm the boy? Because I must remind you, I am now sworn by magic to protect him whenever possible during his developmental years."

"No," replied the dark wizard, "I want you to raise him as your heir. Teach him the ways of a proper pureblood and care for him. We will discuss what I have in store in a more suitable environment," and like that he left for Malfoy Manor.

"Come, child. Time to get a meal in you. You're going to need it for what's next," he said to the bundle in his arms.

**Time skip **

**6 Years Later:**

An excited seven-year-old awoke before the sun to prepare for his day. It wasn't every day that a boy's adopted father pulls some strings to get a wand three years early and be allowed to cast magic at home even though he's underage. That's the perks of being the heir of an Ancient house and a national hero, though.

"Harry," called a male voice, "Come down here after you put on your clothes." Harry then put on his casual wizarding robes with the Avery crest on them and looked in the mirror and saw his trademark scar with black hair and orange eyes. The boy focused and after a second, he had short brown hair and violet eyes. He then slipped on his shoes and made his way downstairs.

"Ready, milord," Harry spoke. "When will we be leaving?"

"Right after breakfast, do not be impatient. It is unfitting of someone of your position. How are your occlumency lessons going?" Avery asked.

"My tutor said my mental shields were strong enough to stop any unwanted intruders from passively reading me, but they can still be breached by a trained legilimens."

"Although I am slightly disappointed at the progress in your occlumency, it is to be expected of someone of your age. Perhaps I will sit in on your next lesson and give some pointers to you. Enough talk of the distant future, I believe you are ready to collect your first wands now," he finished standing up.

"Wands?" Harry said confused, "I thought I was only getting one."

"Seeing as today we began your dueling training; I'll give you the first rule. Always have a backup plan. If a wizard disarms you of your wand, most would expect you to lie down and be defeated. As you know many wizards have an extremely strong bond with their wand and would never consider using another one. With practice of a second poorly matched wand, you would be able to take advantage of the moment of leniency an opponent may show you and it would give you experience in using a wand not suited to you."

"I guess I never thought of it like that," Harry said pushing his plate away, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, my heir, let us depart for Ollivander's shop." He then rose and made his way towards the apparition point of the house. Harry took hold of his wrist and they disapparated in front of the store. As they entered, Mr. Ollivander seemingly appeared at the desk.

"Ah, Lord Avery, 11-inch elm with dragon heartstring core. And who is this? I wasn't aware you sired any heirs unless, of course. Mr. Potter, here for your first wand I assume?"

"Correct as usual, Mr. Ollivander. Harry here is looking for two wands. We will let you match him, as long as you can."

"You insult me, Lord Avery. The wand chooses the wizard, not myself. Of course, I can find him at least one acceptable match as long as it is in this shop. Come, try this wand. 10 inches fir with unicorn hair," Harry picked up the wand and fireworks started shooting out of the end uncontrollably. "Definitely not that, what about this one? 13-inch hawthorn with threstral tail-hair core. Very rare wand, indeed." He picked it up and nothing happened. "How does it feel?"

"Um, cold? I really can't feel anything," and so this went on for two hours, slowly going through the stock of the shop not finding a match until,

"Hmm, I've never matched a wand made of this before. 11-inch, silver lime wood. It also has a unicorn hair core which makes this wand very likely to be loyal to its wielder. A little-known fact is that there are less than twenty silver lime wands left because it was once in such high demand for nobility." Harry picked up the wand and a tight stream of water to flood part of the store. "Looks like we have another dud. You should have no problems preforming most charms when you find a suitable wand, although some of the more difficult woods and cores may give you some trouble depending on their combination. Now I wonder if that wand didn't choose you, would a wand of my father's perhaps?" He then went in the back and returned with another wand. "13-inch, walnut with a dragon heartstring. The walnut is a particularly peculiar type of wood that will undoubtedly feed off a wizard's greatest ideas. This particular heartstring comes from a Ukrainian Ironbelly, which happens to be particularly favored of transfiguration and quite flamboyant magic. Please, try it out also." Harry, setting the silver lime wand down on the counter accepted the wand and gave a flick, causing a tight stream of silver flames to erupt, catching the curtains on fire.

"Finite," called of Avery, cancelling the effects of the wand.

"Thank you, it seems that we have a match with one of my father's final creations, and a particularly beautiful match at that. This is amazing. Now to talk payment, Lord Avery."

"I believe I'll let young Harry here handle the negotiations. After all, it is his wand and he will have to handle much rowdier crowds in the future."

"Ah, I see. Well Mr. Potter, since this is the first time that I've matched one of my father's wands to a wizard, I can give you a small discount to the price on the wand. Unfortunately, with the wand core being so rare, the original price is 300 galleons for the wand."

"Um, how long has this wand been in your shop, if you don't mind me asking," Harry asked. Avery smirked, seeing the obvious play he was going to make.

"The ironbelly has been here for near 150 years, being made by my ancestors."

"Well, what makes you think you will ever find another match for the wand before the integrity is tarnished?"

"Do you doubt my family's wands, Mr. Potter?" Ollivander asked with a smirk.

"No sir, I wouldn't be here if I didn't believe them to be of the best quality. I'm just saying that you could sell it to me as a way of honoring your family's legacy instead of letting it collect dust on a shelf, and then cut the price in half. Knowing you did what hasn't been done for many years, I believe 150 galleons would be a fair price, not including personal compensation for taking as much time as you did to find me a properly matched wand, but also the damages to the curtains. I make my offer at 175 galleons," Harry made his bargain, thankful for all the lessons he had received in business negotiations for the last year.

"You make a good point," Ollivander returned, "But I simply cannot let them go for at least 200."

"180," Harry stated as firmly as he could.

"You drive quite the hard bargain, Mr. Potter, 187 galleons, final offer." Harry took a slight glance at Avery, and upon the nod he received, said

"You just sold yourself a wand, Mr. Ollivander. Good doing business with you."

"As was it with you, Mr. Potter. You have taught him very well, Lord Avery. He managed to get a wand for basically half of what it's worth. You must be very proud," Ollivander praised.

"He did surprisingly well, considering he thought he would have to pay full price. He saved up nearly three hundred galleons from his allowance over the years to make sure he got a properly fitted wand. I believe it's safe to say that he will no longer need classes in negotiation or money management," Avery said coolly. "We will also be taking an auror grade holster and a simple multipurpose wand, on me. Consider this your gift for working so hard Harry.

"Thank you," Harry said relaxing and smiling at Avery.

"That will bring your total to 220 galleons. Shall I charge your account at Gringotts?"

"Yes please, Mr. Ollivander, thank you for your service. Come Harry, it's time to begin your studies," and like that they apparated back to the manor.

**Line Break**

**2 years later (Harry is now 9)**

"Focus, Harry, if your opponent can't see, they can't duel effectively. The conjunctivitis curse can be healed easily by a healer and gives you a major advantage in battle. Now try to hit me with it again and put your intention behind the spell. Don't forget to try to chain your spells together so my attention is focused on defense and not countering your attack," Avery coached.

Harry stood there, dripping in swear and magically exhausted, but having the time of his life. He picked up on the basics of dueling very quickly and it soon became apparent that training dummies would not do much for the boy. Harry raised his threstral core wand and started his next spell chain.

"Flipendo, stupefy, locomotor mortis, conjunctivitis," Harry chained together. He did this for a reason, the beginning of the spell chain would cause him to put up a normal protego for defense then he switched to curses at the end, making an opening in his defense when he had to change to protego horribilis.

"Good, now show me what you really got Harry," Avery taunted.

"Periculum, nox," Harry casted, disorienting Avery with the contrast from a bright light to a lack of it. "Everte statum," Harry called out, taking the moment to almost land a solid hit on Avery, clipping him as the man transfigured a wall from the direction of the spell.

"Hold," Avery called causing the light to return and spell fire to stop. "That was excellent, boy. I wasn't expecting you to change the environment to your liking. How did you see in the dark, by the way?"

"Well I was playing around with my looks the other day when I started thinking about how cats can see in the dark. I started researching how it works and eventually was able to recreate something like it after about three months of trial and error with my metamorphmagus abilities. I was waiting until I learned a spell to help me capitalize on it. After the lesson on signaling people with periculum, I thought it maybe could be used, I decided to try my luck and press myself extra hard this lesson and take a risk," Harry replied.

"Perhaps I should take lessons from your dueling instructor, if he has you landing hits on a fully trained wizard at your age, just imagine what I could do after a couple months of training," he cracked a smile. He was the one instructing the boy after all. "What about the bone-breaking curse? Have you made any progress in it?"

"Well," Harry started, "I snuck in here one night after learning the spell to unlock the door and wanted to practice it, so I could surprise you. For the first three weeks I never managed to cast it even with the incantation. When I asked Lord Lucius for help, he told me it's all about intent. So that night I snuck back in here and put my head to use and figured out a way to somewhat do it. Add a swish and flick and it flew out of my wand. I still can't do it with the actual spell though, for some reason. Watch, Wingardian Leviosa," he pointed at a dummy and nearly tore the arm off it.

"Incantations are not required when using spells," Avery explained, "It just acts as a sort of focus for the right emotions to perform the spell. Kind of like your wand focuses your magic so you don't waste as much when you cast a spell. This study is called Arithmancy and is an elective at Hogwarts from your third year forward. I won't hire a tutor for this, but we do have some books in the library if you would like to use those late-night sessions to do something productive instead of disobeying my rules," he said with a small glare.

"Sorry," Harry said shrinking back a bit.

"You will not be punished this time, for the sheer fact that you managed something great by doing it. I am curious though, how did you manage to sneak past my study without me noticing you?"

"I may have studied ahead and learned the disillusionment charm," Harry said scratching the back of his head.

"We're taking your wand for the rest of your life, at this rate you'll be better than me by your second-year at Hogwarts," he half-joked. The kid was a prodigy with magic. He did nothing extraordinary, but his creativity made up for the lack of skill and experience. He nearly could know what spell you were going to cast before you did, and set up some sort of plan for it, all with a poorly matched wand.

"Alright, I'll be going to bed then, if that's alright with you?" Harry questioned as he replaced his walnut wand from the case it was placed before dueling with the multipurpose wand.

"That's fine, good night Harry."

"Night."

**Line Skip (2 years later)**

**In front of Gringotts:**

"Why must you insist on looking like that while in public? People will mistake you for Draco at this rate," Avery asked.

"I'm trying to avoid the press, milord. You can surely see the benefits of being able to shop for my school supplies in peace," Harry replied.

"Spoken like a true diplomat, boy. Remind me to give your tutor a bonus before we tell him he is no longer needed later this week." William Avery was never a very popular man. Even when attending Hogwarts, he was very quiet and was avoided by even most of his fellow Slytherins. Despite this, he had rose in rank and amassed quite a fortune by going into business with Lucius Malfoy. It was no surprise when Lucius had joined the Death Eaters, that their funding had increased by a large margin. Despite his family normally being part of the neutral faction, Avery never left the side of one of his few friends and supported his cause to the end. It was his international business contact that prevented him from taking the dark mark and having to live his life carefully. Money was no problem for him, as his investments in Ollivander's shop among others after years of business provided a steady source of income and brought in many more customers.

"Would you like to go see Mr. Ollivander before we leave for the train station, Harry?" Harry's eyes changed into the grey color of Ollivander as he considered this. The thing with the metamorphmagus ability is that there is usually one body part that reacts more strongly with situations. For some people it would be hair color or facial features. Harry had the tendency to change his eye color unconsciously.

"That would be nice. I haven't saw him since the flop with my holster a few months ago," Harry winced, remembering the occasion.

"Yes, it was quite unfortunate that your magic reacted violently and caused it to shatter. It was quite the beautiful creation if it would have worked. It can't be help though, come on." With that they entered Ollivander's shop.

"Hello Lord Avery, hi there Harry. What brings you to my shop? Your wand isn't giving you any problems, is it?"

"No, Mr. Ollivander, just figured that I would come visit for a minute before I leave to go to Hogwarts," Harry replied.

"Ah yes, you are eleven now huh? I suppose you deserve a gift since you have helped me in my shop so many times, haven't you," he said with a wink, referring to the time Harry offered to help replace the old curtains with the new after the wand pairing fiasco.

"Oh, there's no need for that," Harry started.

"Nonsense, my boy. I've been working on something for you," and with that he pulled out a box. Inside was a wand holster made from ebony with some type of leather for the straps. "Since your wand is particularly picky about its home, I decided to make a custom holster for it. The base is ash wood to contrast the sharp color of your wand and the leather is the skin of a Ukrainian Ironbelly to further contrast the ebony. It is enchanted to work just like the auror one you have now, except it is more spell resistant than it because of the use of dragon skin, instead of normal leather.

"Wow, I… how can I ever repay you Mr. Ollivander," Harry sputtered out.

"Consider it a gift to future business between our houses. Have a good year at school, Mr. Potter. Try not to break too many wands with those charms of yours. Good luck and goodbye."

"Goodbye Mr. Ollivander and thank you again."


	3. Chapter 3

**Ch. 3**

"Let us go through the checklist one more time. Do you have your school robes?" Avery asked.

"Yes. I have my robes, wand, holster, books, cauldron, two casual robes, one semiformal robe, one formal robe, dueling gear, and my dreamless sleep potions. We've been over this three times already," Harry replied.

"I know, young one, but it is better to be safe then to be caught unprepared. Do you plan on sitting with Draco on the train?"

"You know I can't stand him. Uncle Lucius is decent enough, but Draco acts like he doesn't have any sense at all. Not to mention the company he keeps around isn't any better. I'll probably just see if I can find a compartment that's empty and read ahead in transfiguration. I really like the theory behind that class and hope that the practical portion of the class will be just as good."

"Very well them. Make sure to come up for air and make a couple of friends, though. It's always a good idea to have someone to watch your back."

"That's what detecting charms are for. I get what you're saying though. I'll try my best," he said nervously. His eyes were switching from his preferred purple to a sickly green color.

"Listen I know you haven't been around many kids your age, but you'll be fine. There is no need to worry over something so trivial."

"I'm not worried about that," Harry said defiantly.

"Your eyes tell me a different story," Avery replied pointedly as the whistle for the train to board sounded. "You best be going before the crowd gets here," he said as he stepped back.

"Yes sir. I'll try to check in occasionally and let you know how my studies go," Harry tentatively replied as he stuck his hand out in Avery's direction.

Avery look at the hand in though for a moment before stepping forward giving the boy an affectionate pat on the shoulder, "No need for such formalities between family. Go," he motioned towards the train which Harry boarded, a smile on his face as his purple eyes quickly found a nearly empty compartment, where a girl slightly older than him was trying to lift her trunk into the compartment overhead.

"Wingardian Leviosa," Harry said levitating the trunk towards the compartment, the girl hanging on for dear life before her grip gave out and she landed hard on her backside. "Sorry," Harry winced as he levitated his own trunk holding his hand out to the girl. She accepted it and pulled herself up, the top of her head bumping into Harry's own.

"Ow, sorry. Do I know you? I'm Tonks," she sprouted out embarrassed.

"Probably not. I'm Harold Avery," he half lied, technically being of House Avery. No need for someone to get wind of his fame before the train ride was over. "Is it always this crowded?" he motioned towards the crowd of people outside of the closed door of the compartment.

"Always," she said with a grin, "I do wonder why nobody is coming in here though," she mused.

"Locking charm, I'd rather not be super crowded if that's okay with you?" he questioned softly, settling into his seat and stretching out.

"Sure, so where did you transfer from? Not many schools around here for magic."

"I didn't, this is my first year," he replied, unsure of why she would think that.

"You're a firstie? Doing magic? Someone's been breaking the rules," she declared with a smile.

"No, my guardian got special permission to start practicing magic early, but that's not really your business, no offense," he shot out and immediately felt bad for snapping about his slip of the tongue.

"Not gonna make many friends with that attitude, squirt," she said waving it off and falling right back into the conversation.

"Maybe I don't want a lot of friends. And why are you calling me squirt? You're what, a year older than me?" he replied defensively, his occlumency shields snapping into place.

"Two years, thank you very much. Besides, who doesn't want to make friends, they're the best," she said astounded.

"Me," he said pulling out his copy of 'Gamp's Guide to Elemental Transfiguration: A Practical Approach' and looking at the theory behind the spells.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" came the voice of an elderly woman as she placed her wand in her pocket, no doubt having just cancelled the locking charm.

"Nothing for me, ma'am," Tonks replied looking wistfully at the chocolate frogs.

"Three chocolate frogs and a pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans," I said pulling out some sickles and putting them in her hand. "Here," I said tossing two of the frogs in Tonks' direction as he took his seat and recast the locking charm.

"I said I was fine," she replied awkwardly holding the frogs in Harry's direction, her hair turning a weird shape of blue.

"You're a metamorphmagus," Harry said excitedly sitting up.

"Um, yeah," she said uncomfortable as she sat there, still holding the frogs.

"Keep the frogs, Tonks," Harry replied sitting back in his seat, his gaze now fully on her, "What kind of name is Tonks anyway?"

"A last one. I don't like my first one," she said huffing as she opened a frog, it managing to jump out of the window, "Dang it."

"Why wouldn't you like your name? What is it?" he asked curiously.

"Not telling, it's a secret," she replied saucily.

"Come on, I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," he bargained.

"Nice try, squirt. You already gave me your name," she said knowingly.

"No, you don't, it's an alias, a fake name," he clarified at her confused look.

"I know what an alias is," she said with flustered cheeks, "I'm wondering why you'd use a fake name."

"Tell me your name and maybe you'll figure it out."

"Hmph, fine, I'll bite. My name is Nymphadora Tonks, but if you ever call me that, I'll feed you to something meaner and much hairier than the both of us from the Forbidden Forest," she said as serious as possible.

"I don't see why you dislike the name Nymphadora, it is quite elegant."

"Elegant? How is a name with such a horrid meaning elegant! I can't wait to hear your name so I can rip it to shreds. What is it, Bartholomeus?" she shot back bitterly, clearly upset at what she assumed is a joke about her name.

"It's elegant because it is the name your mother gave you and you should be grateful for it. I'll also have you know my name is Bartholomeus, but Harry Potter," he fired back at the ungrateful girl, his eyes darkening to a shade of purple very close to black.

"Oh, um," she sputtered, shocked at his sudden outburst, "Sorry?"

"It's fine," he sighed, scolding his self for losing his temper with her, "It's just family is something that one should hold very dearly. You never know when you're gonna lose them."

"I guess I never thought about it like that," she awkwardly croaked out, "I thought you had a scar?"

"I do, it's covered with a strange bit of magic," he replied eager to get away from the topic of family.

"Oh, and what would that be?"

Harry chose not to respond verbally, but to change his appearance from his purple eyes to green, also revealing his scar.

"Wow, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were just like me," she said leaning in closer to look at Harry's eyes. "Gotta say, I prefer your other eyes better."

"Well, thank you, but that's none of your business," Harry said taking his wand out and mutter some gibberish as he morphed his appearance back.

"Wow, you really can't even take a compliment. This is going to be a long ride."

"I can take a compliment; I just don't need one. I also would appreciate it if you could keep your mouth shut about who I am when we reach Hogwarts. I would prefer to have some peace instead of paparazzi at the school."

"Wow, you have some nerve you know. You come in here, acting all high and mighty, and expect me to do you a favor!" she fired off hotly.

"I could always wipe your memory," Harry shot back as he laid across the seat, turning to the next page in the book.

"You wouldn't dare, that's illegal to begin with. My dad works in magical law, so I would know," she said with an uneasy expression, her own hand moving towards her pocket where her wand is.

"Guess what, Nymphadora," Harry said lowering the book enough to only show his eyes. "That was a joke," he said closing the book and sitting it down, revealing a satisfied smirk on his face.

"You wanker, I was really getting worried there," she said standing up and slapping at the relaxing boy, who did his best to defend himself with his book. She finally sat back down, before an evil grin covered her face. "You do know what this means, right?" she asked innocently.

"What does it mean," Harry asked confused as a knock came from the door.

"A prank war," she said before cancelling Harry's charm on the door and opening it to reveal a bushy-haired girl standing there tapping her foot.

"Have either of you saw a toad? Neville lost one and I promised him I'd help look for it."

"Oh, there's definitely a toad in here, although I'm sure it's not the one your looking for," Tonks replied cheekily.

"Huh? Hold on a second, what were you two doing in here anyway. It's against school policy to lock the compartment doors. Were you practicing magic?" she said pushing past Tonks and sitting on the vacant seat across from Harry. "I'm Hermione Granger, it's my first year here," she stuck her hand out.

"Charmed," Harry winced at the blatant dismissal of Tonks standing right there. He sat up and made some room on his seat for her, ignoring Hermione's offer. Tonks quickly sat down, not looking offended at all, and snatched the girl's hand, giving it a quick shake.

"My name's Tonks," she said shooting a sideways glance at Harry, "and this is _Harold_," she said drawing out his name.

"Nice to meet you both, so were you practicing magic in here," she asked with naivety.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but are you a muggle-born?"

"What does that have to do with anything," Tonks' eyes tried to burn through Harry's skull.

"Nothing, it would just explain why she's so interested in seeing some magic," Harry shrugged, unaffected by the girl's gaze.

"Well, to answer your question, yes. I am a muggle born. Would either of you mind showing me some magic?" The girl asked, looking a little uneasy at the sudden tension that quickly formed and disappeared from the duo in front of her.

"Sure, Tonks here is a third year, sure she can show you something," he said pulling the girl's attention away from himself. Tonks quickly pulled out her wand and proceeded to change her appearance to shorten her hair, as to not let it get in her way.

"Aguamenti, glacius," she said causing a stream of water to come out of her wand then freeze, still attached to her wand. She bit her bottom lip, her face taking a funny look as she concentrated, then the ice slowly moved and took the form of a deformed, half melted flower.

"Points for creativity," Harry said taking out his own wand and waving it, causing the melted parts to vanish.

"Wow, that was amazing," Hermione said, enthralled. "Unfortunately, I've got to go finish helping Neville find his toad, but I hope to see you both around," she said giving a wave and leaving, closing the door as she went.

"That's why I lock the door," Harry said as he put his legs in Tonks' lap and drifted to sleep, leaving the girl alone to her thoughts.

**Pretty good start to what will be the first few thousand words of a pretty big story. Don't forget to review and tell me what you think, although I have the story planned out, I can change some things to the readers likings. Tell me what yall want, what yall need, and what yall think I'm doing wrong. The first time I tried this story it was much too rushed, I'm definitely pacing it better this time so I can plug in some encounters if that's what yall want. Just lemme know in the reviews.**

**This is Cloaked Protagonist,**

**Signing Off**


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